Her arm felt better, though she had to keep it wrapped up and change the wrappings every so often, along with rubbing some kind of burn cream on it. It really wasn't a problem anymore, in her opinion, but everyone kept making her be careful and stuff. Which she got. Really!
Okay, so maybe she was just restless and didn't want to listen to everyone about staying still and resting. She rested enough thank you very much! She wanted to move around, be free, do something –preferably a pokémon battle.
A ghostly hand patted her shoulder and she looked miserably at Sir Aaron.
"Milady," he started gently. "I understand you feel caged, but you were hurt and you should let yourself heal."
"But I'm bored and I hate not doing anything," she grumbled. And they really weren't letting her do anything!
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed in support of his trainer, though he too had been confined to the room as punishment for evading the Pokémon Center twice.
Sir Aaron looked thoughtful. "We could do more Aura exercises, if you'd like? I know, from what you told me, that you'd had practice with someone named Sabrina, who basically has helped you to at least feel for your Aura and get a sense on it and even the basics of reaching out to it."
Ash nodded enthusiastically, starting to cheer up. "Yeah, that's right."
He nodded surely. "Then we can move from the basics and start you on the beginning of intermediate practices, that of actually learning to reach out to your Aura and then eventually to you being able to use the Aura-based gifts that you should be able to perform at this stage."
Ash was practically bouncing in her seat. "Ohh, is it going to be like the Force?"
He looked confused. "What is this...Force?"
She squealed. "I definitely have to catch you up on Star Wars! Er, but after we start on this Aura stuff first, 'kay?"
Sir Aaron blinked, but shrugged to himself and agreed. Soon enough he had her started on what Sabrina taught her, before he began to instruct on how to go farther than that. It wasn't long until she'd grasped that and was excitedly practically attempting to glomp Sir Aaron...but went right through him and landed with an oomph! on the floor.
He blushed in embarrassment. "Um, I'm quite sorry about that, milady."
"S'fine," he heard muffled from her.
Pikachu just snickered from his spot.
~*~*~
Two hours later found the others coming back to her room to find that she and Sir Aaron were in the midst of a Star Wars marathon.
"Obi-Wan, nooooo!" he cried out.
Ash patted his back. Well, she pretended to since he wasn't really corporeal. "It's okay. Jango Fett doesn't get him."
Lt. Surge chuckled. "So Star Wars marathon?"
"Mmhm," Ash nodded, not taking her eyes off the movie.
"I'm assuming we're all going to watch," Giovanni stated more than asked, and rolled his eyes as he sat near Ash and got comfortable. The group converged on the area and spread out and soon enough they were all watching and having a movie night.
"Hey, guys," Brock spoke up in between changing the third Star Wars movie for the fourth. "There was a street I'd like to visit before we leave Celadon City. Is that alright?"
"Sure!" Ash spoke up. "Why not?"
"Just making sure," Brock shrugged. "Do you want to go, Ash? There are a lot of beauty parlors on that street for pokémon..."
"Ohhh, yeah, that sounds awes –" The room's phone rang and they all looked at each other. Oak was nearest to it and answered it.
"Hello?"
Oak's eyebrows raised the longer he listened, making everyone very curious as to what the professor was hearing. When he finally hung up, everyone stared at him. He huffed and glared back.
"Give me a moment, you nosy people," Oak huffed again. He turned to Norman surprisingly. "Apparently your daughter's downstairs, in the lobby. She was asking for an 'Ash Ketchum', and they called up Ash's room."
"May's here?" Norman asked in shock, feeling unsure of himself.
Ash straightened up, grinning widely. "That's great, Norman! She finally found her way to you! Why don't you get her and bring her up, and we can all meet her and let her meet all of us in turn?"
"Y-yes, that sounds good," Norman stuttered, looking at her with wide eyes. His daughter was finally there and he was having a hard time figuring out what to do now that she was. He was supposed to (when he finally had her) bring her home, but it was late and that was too abrupt and he knew that May had really wanted to meet Ash, who had been so kind to him and it wouldn't do to part so quickly and without warning.
And, as he glanced at Ash, he didn't really want to part so soon either.
So he quickly made it down to the lobby, where he saw his daughter, who looked fine for the most part –if slightly tired out and oddly having a rough-looking Jolteon next to her.
"May?" he called out, catching her attention. She turned to him in surprise. "Dad!"
She walked briskly over to meet him halfway, while he kept walking over to her. They embraced tightly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I should be asking you that," he frowned. "Or rather, what were you thinking suddenly coming all the way here?"
May's face flushed red at the reprimand, but she frowned back at him.
"I wanted to meet Ash Ketchum," she said stubbornly. "I just...had to come here. I had to leave the house."
His frown softened. "I know," he started unsurely. "It's been really rough back home, hasn't it?" They exchanged uncomfortable but understanding looks with each other. "I get it. Our family's unusual and the two of us have had a hard time connecting and being close. And to be honest, I know now that I should have tried harder to try to see and understand things that you like, and not just force you into dealing with and liking pokémon. Even with pokémon contests, the little interest you have in them and the only thing much to do with pokémon you had, and I wasn't as supportive or cared too much about it. I'm sorry."
May gave him a small smile, looking taken aback from his confession and apology. "I've been thinking about it a lot and though I'm still not interested in battling, I've becoming even more interested in pokémon contests and maybe even participating...and I kind of really like pokémon. Jolteon's been awesome the entire time he accompanied me to here, and I really like all of Ash's pokémon and hope to meet them. So maybe...so maybe we have a little more in common now?"
He beamed happily at his daughter. "Yeah, I'm glad!"
"Ah, that reminds me –what are you doing here? I was trying to meet Ash Ketchum and even had them call for her room, so I'm surprised you're here, Dad," May remembered, looking at him in confusion.
Norman blushed slightly. "I went looking for you after finding your note. I ended up coming all the way over to Kanto too, and eventually I met Ash and her group. They let me tag along until you eventually found them, and so that I would be able to find you more easily."
May groaned. "Really? You got to meet her already and even hang around her, when I'm the one who wanted to meet her! That's so unfair!"
Norman felt a little mischievous and shrugged, smiling carelessly. "I know, right? I'm lucky! And she's really sweet and nice, and we had breakfasts together all the time, and –"
May gave a small shriek and hit his arm, and he just ended up laughing at her.
"You're such a jerk, Dad!"
Norman couldn't keep the smile off of his face, grabbing his daughter's hand and leading the way to the room, the rough and gruff Jolteon following after them.
"You have got to tell me about how you got here and how you got that Jolteon," Norman was sure his daughter had quite the tale. "You can tell me all about it on the way there, and I'll tell you what happened to me."
And so he listened intently to May tell her story, grinning and chuckling at many places.
~*~*~
Ash was kind of excited. Norman had been so desperate to reunite with his daughter, and had further confessed to her so many things regarding May and his relationship, of their family, and how he'd like her help with the two of them. She felt like she knew May already somewhat, and also that she really wanted to help father and daughter get along better, as well as fulfill May's strange desire to meet her and hopefully meet her expectations.
The door opened and Norman stepped through with a young girl, a little younger than Ash, with short brown hair, shy blue eyes, and a nervous smile on her face and also a Jolteon.
"Everyone, I'd like to introduce my daughter May," Norman announced, looking really happy. May gave a small wave, kind of shirking behind her dad unsurely, while the Jolteon growled loudly and ran passed them and towards Lt. Surge, who looked shocked and caught the electric pokémon as it pounced on him. He gave a sheepish look towards everyone.
"Uh, my Jolteon. I'm guessing Remy lent him to you?" he looked to May, who nodded. "Ah hah, well, good he and this one helped you out."
Everyone said their hello's before Ash bounced up to them with a wide grin. "Hi, I'm Ash! I heard a lot about you from Norman."
May squeaked and blushed a little, looking at her wide-eyed and speechless. Ash almost cooed. She was like a scared but cute Buneary.
"N-nice to meet you and everyone," May said after a soft nudge from Norman. "Sorry for the inconvenience."
Ash waved her off, heading back to her seat. "Nonsense. We don't mind. Come in, come in! Watch Star Wars with us."
She patted the spot next to her, and May hesitantly went to sit there with her father following after and sitting next to her. Settled in between May and Giovanni, Ash made herself comfortable to watch.
"Yeah, let's go!" Sir Aaron cheered and she saw May flinch and stare at him, noticing him and his incorporeal self.
Ash comfortingly patted May's shoulder. "I know, I was the same way. But he's a good ghost. Ah! We're out of popcorn!"
The Harem Club popped up suddenly and gave her a thumbs up with a glittering background. "Don't worry, ma'am! We'll get you a fresh batch."
May stared and Norman gave her a sympathetic smile. "You get used to it."
Hm, Ash thought about that and realized that was pretty true. Everyone had pretty much gotten used to the weirdness that tended to happen around them, so it really wasn't such a big deal anymore. Oops, poor May getting introduced to their group so suddenly.
Well, it's alright. She had her dad there to help her, and he'd been pretty much inducted into the group and gotten almost used to everything.
~*~*~
By the time the movies were over, everyone was tired and ready to sleep. But, as they were tired and lazy, they didn't feel like making their way to their own rooms and instead camped out around Ash's room. There was a large blanket bed hastily made on the ground in front of the TV that was occupied by Brock, Misty, the, er, Harem guys, and Sam had taken the couch while Norman had unfolded the futon. Lt. Surge had put down the pull out bed from the closet and was sleeping on it, while Giovanni was still up and working on his laptop apparently.
May was just trying to acclimate to everything and feeling way too excited to go to sleep. Ash being up too was another reason that she didn't want to sleep.
"You two should go to bed," Giovanni said distractedly, typing fast on the keyboard.
"Maybe in a bit," Ash beamed at him. "I want to hang around May a little more, since she and Norman are going to leave tomorrow morning."
That made May remember that her dad had told everyone that the two of them would be heading straight back to Hoenn the next morning, and that they wouldn't be intruding on the group anymore. It depressed her a little, but she had finally met and got to meet Ash, and she knew that the situation was weird and that they shouldn't be intruding anyway.
"Come on, May," Ash brought her attention back to her and she blushed. "Let's go have some hot chocolate downstairs! They have a 24 hour café that we can go to."
"Y-yeah! Okay," May smiled brightly.
Ash took her hand and led the way. "See you, Giovanni!"
"Bye!" May hurried to say as she was pulled away. Ash's Pikachu had already darted to the front and was ahead of them. Ash maneuvered them around the hallways and to the elevators easily as they followed Pikachu, and then they entered and waited in one of the elevators. May kept looking at Ash shyly, her dumb blush not going away. After a few moments of that, the elevator thankfully stopped and then she was being led to the café, where they ordered and then waited at a table.
"So what do you like to do?" Ash asked her curiously. "Do you have any hobbies?"
May bit her lip. "Um, not really. To be honest...I don't really do much or go out of the house too often. Um, I kind of like pokémon contests though, which is how I found out about you." Her face burned even hotter at that.
Ash laughed delightedly. "I still find that funny! I've never been on TV before and had no idea there was even a recording of me and my pokémon from that contest. I didn't think we were so likable that we'd have a lot of people liking us, and one especially to come all the way here to meet me," Ash winked at her, ending teasingly.
Impossibly, May's face turned an even darker red, but she was also smiling widely because Ash didn't mind and didn't think May was a weirdo or something.
Soon, she found that they were drawn into conversation that lasted a long while, even after their drinks were finished. Pikachu even got his own and was relaxed on Ash's lap. When they finally left there, still chatting, May was feeling extraordinarily happy and couldn't remember the last time she felt like that. But it also brought to mind that she was going to leave soon and she was going to be leaving Ash and this feeling behind, which made her depressed again.
"Oh!" she heard Ash quietly exclaim and she looked to see where the other girl was looking at and saw Giovanni had fallen asleep at the table. "That silly man. He should've gone somewhere to sleep."
Looking around, May thought he probably wouldn't have had anywhere to sleep, considering every available space –barring the bed, which was Ash's, and May's space beside her dad on the futon –was taken.
"Before you go to bed, could you help me get him onto the bed? He's going to end up with a bad back and will probably wake up grouchy and sore in the morning," Ash asked her, smiling fondly as she looked onto the sleeping man.
"Sure," she quickly said, wanting to spend at least a few more minutes with Ash. She went over and together they hefted the large man off of the table and stood him up. Which was quite a feat, considering how tall and generally just bigger Giovanni was compared to them. He was much heavier too, but somehow they managed to slowly carry him over to the bed and lug him onto it.
Ash panted as she gave May a tired smile. "Thanks a lot. Goodnight, May!"
May went back to being shy, smiling back. "G-goodnight!"
She went to her father's side and carefully got onto the futon. She went to sleep smiling as she listened to Ash cheerfully, if quietly, sing along to some song.
~*~*~
Ash took a second to rest, finally finished getting Giovanni comfortable on the bed. Geez, the man was a heavy sleeper! But well, she'd managed to take off his tie and jacket and shoes, before tucking him in under the blankets. Haha, she was good!
Proudly, she went over to his laptop to close the lid when she had a thought. Giovanni did say she could use his laptop whenever she wanted...
She really hadn't looked up her perfume allergy before, and she knew that she wasn't really affected by lighter scents compared to stronger scents. And she also knew that most of the time, she didn't get rashes from them. She just tended to have a hard time breathing and stuff.
Going onto the lock screen, she sighed as she realized there was a password. She should've asked Giovanni for it, but eh –maybe she could guess? She tried 'persian' and then she tried stuff to do with Viridian and his gym. Without knowing what it was, she resorted to randomly guessing and was glad that his laptop wasn't locking her out after the 25th try. Jokingly, she typed in her name and then blinked when it unlocked the computer.
She gaped at it while starting to blush, and awkwardly looked back at the sleeping man on the bed. Huh. Who would've guessed? Maybe it was to make it easier for her to log onto his laptop?
She found the internet icon easily and clicked onto it, and then began to search up her allergy. She found a medical article and curiously read it, tilting her head at the information she got. Apparently it was less of an 'allergen' and more correctly an irritant and called 'fragrance sensitivity' and which produced allergy symptoms. And she had either that or an allergy to some chemical in a perfume. The best thing to do was prevention, and which sucked because she liked some scents! She didn't mind her favorite lotion or shampoo smells! O-or some scents from her soap!
She dropped her head hard onto the table next to the laptop and bemoaned her life. She'd suffer through it! Damn it, she would. It wasn't like she got bothered by scents outside of the stuff that were usually used as perfume and cologne, which thankfully none of the guys here used. Not that they didn't smell nice though. In fact, she was pretty sure they all smelled really nice, and even used some sort of scents.
Seeing where her thoughts were, she blushed again and shook her head.
She kept looking it up before she got bored and began searching up pokémon battles and pokémon information online. She ran into some travel ad for Alola, which she was curious about and wanted to look into some other time, before she got curious about the video everyone talked about on her. However, afterwards, her face was so hot from embarrassment that she decided it was bedtime and decided to close out of the internet window. But before she could turn off the laptop itself, a chat window popped up.
ExcArc: Sir?
Ash panicked, not knowing what to do. She could just close out, but that would be rude and they would know and she didn't want to upset whoever it was that wanted to talk to Giovanni, and who would probably thought it was him and get upset at him!
GiovanniR: Um, this is a friend of his. He's sleeping.
Yes, yes. That should be fine. Right. Right?
Ash winced and started to panic again, especially since the other was silent. What did that mean? She hoped they would leave off and then she could just shut it off. But then...
GiovanniR: Would you like to leave a message? Unless it's classified!
Ash amended her first sentence. Then she added,
GiovanniR: Or if you'd like, I could just tell him that you wanted to talk to him when he's awake?
She waited and started to get nervous, only to receive a reply finally.
ExcArc: Hello, I am a friend and subordinate of Giovanni's.
Excited, Ash quickly typed back something.
GiovanniR: Hi! It's nice to meet you. I'm Ash :)
She waited eagerly and was happy when she saw she was quickly answered this time.
ExcArc: My name is Archer.
~*~*~
The morning was a jumbled mess. Giovanni was still tired, but he couldn't exactly escape the noise that was permeating in the room. Sighing, he opened his eyes and found himself staring at dark hair smothering his vision.
Pulling back, his eyes widened when he realized Ash was sleeping right next to him and somehow he'd been put into the bed. Even more, his jacket and shoes had been taken off, and the covers had been pulled over him. Unwillingly, he felt warm and embarrassed to realize that not only had Ash somehow gotten him onto the bed, but had sort of undressed him and had then gone on to sleep next to him in the bed.
Dear Arceus, he was sleeping in the same bed as Ash.
"Morning," he heard and he turned to face who it was, choking on his breath slightly when he realized that everyone else was already awake and cleaning up. Oak, the one who'd spoken, looked at him blandly as he drank his coffee.
"Oh, you're awake!" The new girl, Norman's kid, smiled at him. "Ash was worried you were going to wake up cranky and with a sore back, and that you were going to eventually get a bad back if you slept at the table, so she and I brought you over to the bed. I went to bed after, but she was so sweet and helped you get comfortable."
While May and Norman were oblivious, the rest of the others were a bunch of bastards and were smirking and giving him looks, and he tossed them back a disgruntled one, even as he felt even more embarrassed and even a bit happy at the confirmation.
"You should wake her up," Misty quipped, giving him a wink.
He glared at her, but found himself already turning to Ash's sleeping figure and leaning over her. Tentatively, he reached out and then paused before gently grabbing her shoulder and giving her a slight shake. It took a few tries, but eventually she muttered something and then groaned, stretching in bed and then slowly sitting up. She blinked lethargically a few times, before she looked at him. A moment passed before she squeaked and blush, and scrambled off the bed.
"Good morning," she shouted, before she ran to the bathroom.
Giovanni just sighed to himself.
"I think May and I should be heading off," Norman said and attention turned to him. The girl, May, looked disappointed, but Giovanni was just glad to get rid of some people. Their group just seemed to get bigger and bigger.
Soon enough, Ash was out of the bathroom and they were saying their goodbyes and the two left. Then Brock spoke out.
"Um, I'd like to head to Scissor Street today? There's a pokémon breeder there that I'd like to see. She's actually like the best breeder in the world, and I'd like to learn a bit from her."
"Oh!" Ash was obviously excited. "A pokémon breeder! Count me in!"
"Well, we did agree last night. Should be worth the look," Lt. Surge said.
They started to finish up cleaning the room and got their things together so they'd be ready to leave there when they were done looking, and then they left the room, to which Giovanni was aggravated to find Steven Stone leaving one of the elevators on that floor.
"Ah, were you guys leaving?" he asked.
"Just to go to Scissor Street," Ash replied. "We're going to check the street out. Brock wanted to see a specific pokémon breeder there."
"Do you mind if I tag along?" Steven asked, smiling kindly.
'Yes,' Giovanni grumbled in his head.
"Of course not!" Ash said happily. "It'd be great if you came with us!"
And then another person was added to the group and Giovanni almost pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed aloud. Instead, he just resigned himself to the trip, and tried to not gain a headache as they passed by a store with the name Salon Roquét.
He had a horrible, horrible, horrible feeling about it.
"So we're going to see a pokémon breeder by the name of Susie," Brock was explaining.
"Hey, I think I know her. I think I heard about her from the Pokémon News Network," Ash said. "That's awesome! We get to meet her."
"I'm really flattered," a new voice said and they saw a pretty, young woman step out from a salon and having overheard them. "I'm Susie. It's nice to meet you all."
"I'm Brock," Brock rushed forward and Giovanni nodded to himself. There was the Brock he heard about – "Please teach me," Brock said seriously, and then Giovanni blinked and stared at the young man.
Susie laughed, caught off guard. "Well...alright. I don't know how I am as a teacher, but I'll do my best!" She looked a little depressed then. "Um, but it's not like I can really do much. My salon's not even doing well, especially since other salons have taken up attention and promoting the image of pokémon rather than the care. That Salon Roquét is new, but is at the head of those salons."
Giovanni really didn't want to hear anything about that salon. Not if those idiots were the ones in charge of it.
"What if we do a tutorial?" Ash suggested. "You can do a tutorial in front of your salon, showing how to treat pokémon?"
"That sounds wonderful," Susie was delighted. "Could you help me out? You could be a model in the tutorial, and follow what I do."
"I'd love to help!"
That decided, they helped set it up in front of Susie's salon and Misty announced to them that she wanted to check out that Salon Roquét place.
"Maybe they can do something to spruce up that Psyduck I got stuck with," Misty said dryly, wrinkling her nose when she thought of it.
Ah, that's right. During that whole debacle with the Hypnos and the Pokémon Fan Club, Misty had somehow ended up with a Psyduck that she had accidentally ended up catching. It apparently suffered from a lot of headaches and gave Misty many a headache in return.
Giovanni smirked to himself. Served her right.
Calmly watching from the side, Ash and Susie began to work with Pikachu and Susie's Vulpix, and a crowd began to gather and watch the demonstration. Steven sidled up to him and Giovanni pretended not to notice.
"So...you're close to Ash, right?" the younger man asked, smiling politely while keeping his eyes glued forward and watching the females at work.
"Of course," Giovanni answered simply. "In fact, you could say I'm her...sugar daddy."
Hell, he was going to milk that title for all its worth. He wasn't going to let some pretty boy move in on their group.
"Is that so?" Steven asked in amusement. "I wouldn't mind sharing the load."
Giovanni inwardly bristled, staying calm outwardly. "This group's getting a little too crowded."
"Good thing I've got my own bus to travel in," Steven quipped cheerfully.
"She's 16."
"Two more years for Kanto and Johto, one more in Hoenn, and already legal in Kalos and Unova! Not sure about Alola though~"
Giovanni gritted his teeth and wondered if anyone were to notice if he grabbed Steven by the scruff of his shirt and tossed the younger businessman into incoming traffic.
~*~*~
Soon the demonstration was over and Ash was happy to see that it had worked and a lot of people were asking Susie things and entering her salon. Brock said he was going to stay a while and hopefully learn some more, which he promised he'd pass onto Ash.
"So what now?" Lt. Surge asked, cracking his neck.
Giovanni turned to her and smiled slightly. "Well, since the pokémon are getting pampered, would you like to as well? I believe there's a salon nearby for humans and you can get your nails and hair done."
Giddily, Ash nodded. "Could we really?"
Giovanni's smile widened a bit. "Sure. Let's head there now."
"Count me in!" Steven added cheerily.
Ash looked to him in surprise and happiness. But she was glad to have him come along, since she'd become accustomed to and liked having him around. She did miss Giovanni gaining a brief annoyed look from Steven's announcement, but of course some of the others didn't.
Still, when they made it to the salon, Ash decided to do her hair first, since the assistant said it'd be easier to not mess up her nails. They asked her if she wanted to dye her hair and then she looked to the others.
"I want to do it. Does anyone want to dye their hair with me?" she asked, all excitement and still giddy.
While everyone looked hesitant, Oak especially given that his hair was newly restored to its younger form, Lt. Surge raised up his hand without pause, grinning wildly.
"Hell yeah, sure. I'll do it with you," Lt. Surge loudly said and Ash giggled. While she didn't hear the unintended innuendo, everyone else did. But then again, they were also not sure if the innuendo was unintended after all, judging from the smirk Lt. Surge tossed them.
"He's brash," Steven muttered.
Giovanni snorted. "Oh, he can be much, much more crude."
Still, he wasn't going to just lie down and be one-upped by the other man. That's why, after they were done and back with them (and he was too pleased with the fact that Ash had done her hair in an ombre style with a red he completely approved of), he agreed to doing a manicure and pedicure with her.
"I like being groomed to perfection," he snarked at the others before heading away with Ash.
"He's..." Steven trailed off.
"Don't mind him," Lt. Surge huffed. "His ego is larger than Mt. Moon."
"Really? I could've sworn that his ego couldn't be compared," Oak deadpanned.
Steven shook his head. "You think she'd like to get dressed up? I think there's a store nearby that sells pretty dresses."
"No." "Yes!"
Oak and Lt. Surge looked at each other.
"I'd like to see her dressed up," Lt. Surge admitted plainly.
"I don't," Oak said firmly.
"Why? Afraid you'd like what you'd see?" the blond stared directly at Oak.
Oak balked. "No, not at all –"
"Maybe continue this later, since they're coming back," Steven said quickly, and the other two quieted down and straightened up. Steven then looked to Ash, when she finally got to them. "Hey, you want to see some dresses? I'm pretty sure there's an apparel store nearby to here!"
Ash gave him a thumbs up. "Okay! That would be nice too!"
Steven let out a smug smirk towards the others, even as he led the way out and to where he remembered the store was. Once in there, he and Ash went through the clothing together, and managed to leave the guys alone near the front of the store. They picked the one they liked best together and Ash went to get dressed in it. Steven went to go pay for the clothing and met back up to the others to wait for Ash, to which by the time she came out in the pretty red and black dress they found to match her hair, they went quiet.
Steven didn't know whether to clap to himself for a job well done, or keep staring in awe. He was pretty sure the others were too.
Ash looked at them nervously, wondering at their quietness. "Well?" she asked hesitantly.
Oak smiled gently at her. "You look really pretty, Ash. We're just a bit caught off guard," and was rewarded by a sweet blush and smile from said girl.
"Why don't we head back to the pokémon salon?" Giovanni suggested quietly, and Oak was under no delusions that this little makeover session wasn't affecting the man. When it came to Ash, he was quite obvious, and the only one not noticing and getting a clue was Ash herself.
~*~*~
They were on their way back, when they saw a commotion in front of that Salon Roquét. To Giovanni's consternation, he was correct in that the place was Jessie, James, and Meowth's newest scheme. The trio were arguing back against a bunch of restless customers, who had (upon the three's reveal by Misty) gotten angry at being duped.
He was about to steer them away when Ash stomped towards the crowd and began lecturing.
"Why are you all getting angry at them for?" Ash shouted at everyone. "These idiots didn't even really do racketeering –they opened a store, painted your pokémon silly to what they thought looked cool –don't deny it, you three! –and they charged a lot of money! But you guys bought into and liked the idea and how your pokémon looked before Misty showed who they really are! You could have gone to Susie's salon for real pokémon treatment!"
"W-we earned this money, fair and square!" Jessie suddenly yelled, bolstered by the unexpected support (Giovanni was startled too).
"Yeah!" James said. "We worked hard!"
"We're keepin' this money, so sayonara, jerks who don't appreciate beauty!"
The Rocket Trio ran away, pulling down eyelids and sticking out their tongues. Giovanni sidled over to Ash, chuckling quietly.
"You know, you should start a fashion trend and come up with ideas for pokémon. Kalos specializes in that and works a lot with it, but you could do something here in Kanto," Giovanni suggested slyly.
Ash looked surprised and a little embarrassed. "W-what? No way, I don't think I can and it'll take money and..."
Giovanni coughed and raised an eyebrow at her when she looked at him. "I could fund it, you know."
"Well..."
"Give it some thought," Giovanni told her. "I brought it up in the first place because I wanted you to come up with a fashion trend that I could fund and look into as a business venture. We could even be business partners in it," he teased her.
She cleared her throat and was back to her regular flushed face. "I'll think about it."
"I look forward to your answer," he held out his hand professionally to show her he was being serious.
She blinked and then reached out, grabbing his hand.
"Hey, hey –does it look like those two are doing some kind of business transaction?" Steven asked the others a little ways away.
"Yep," Lt. Surge said, eyeing the two suspiciously.
Steven sighed wistfully. "I want to do business with Ash!"
"In your dreams, pretty boy."
~*~*~
Norman and May stood on the platform, watching the opened doors of the train. They looked at each other before hesitantly entering it.
"I don't...I don't really want to leave," Norman confessed to his daughter.
"I don't either," May told him.
They looked at each other again before smiling resignedly at each other. They grabbed each other's hands and turned around, stepping right back through the threshold and running excitedly out of there.
"Let's go!"